Conspiracy Theories, Performance vs. Formation, and the Art of Medicine
A digest of three things to help you engage with God, neighbor, and culture.
Christians and Conspiracy Theories
Adrienne LaFrance on QAnon
This riveting article probes the latest American conspiracy theory – a political cult called QAnon that has surprising traction among conservative Christians:
You know that a small group of manipulators, operating in the shadows, pull the planet’s strings. You know that they are powerful enough to abuse children without fear of retribution. You know that the mainstream media are their handmaidens, in partnership with Hillary Clinton and the secretive denizens of the deep state. You know that only Donald Trump stands between you and a damned and ravaged world.
Three-quarters of Americans claim total ignorance of this secret knowledge, but social media is packed with QAnon content and frequently retweeted by President Trump. "The group harnesses paranoia to fervent hope and a deep sense of belonging," LaFrance writes. "To look at QAnon is to see not just a conspiracy theory but the birth of a new religion."
Read or listen to "The Prophecies of Q" over at The Atlantic, then hop over to TGC for Joe Carter's explanation of how QAnon is a dangerous satanic movement.
We'd also be remiss not to recommend Dru Johnson's brilliant article "Jesus Cares About Your Conspiracy Theory" over at Christianity Today. "The Bible’s authors weren’t naïve—they knew that some conspiracies, of course, turn out to be true," Johnson writes. "But Scripture demonstrates a notable interest in guiding how we’re to arrive at the truth."
We Need Formation, Not Performance
Yuval Levin on why we need institutions
"Institutions" is a dirty word for many people. Often interchangeable with "bureaucracy", many of us are convinced that institutions only exist to serve themselves and empower the powerful.
This is frequently the case, but Yuval Levin suggests that the healing of our culture will come about not through fewer institutions, but better ones. "Our institutions are the forms of our common life, the structures and shapes of the things we do together," says Levin.
At the heart of our misconception lies the belief that institutions should be performative for us rather than formative of us. But institutions like marriage, family, community, congress, and the university are not "platforms for us to be seen on and to raise our profile and visibility." They are the vital ways we are formed to be part of something greater than ourselves.
Listen to Yuval Levin in conversation with Collin Hansen on Gospelbound. You can also check out Levin's latest book A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream.
Modern Medicine's Shaky Foundations
Kimbell Kornu in conversation with Ken Myers
Is a global pandemic really the best time to question the foundations of modern medicine? Aren’t there more urgent and practical things to talk about?
Kimbell Kornu, a professor of palliative care and health care ethics at St. Louis University, insists there is no better time. Covid has been an apocalypse — quite literally an unveiling — revealing the utilitarianism of modern medicine. We can debate procedure all day long, but questions about what it means to be human — to live a good life and die a good death — remain unanswerable and often unaskable.
In this wide-ranging interview, Kornu describes medicine as more of an art than a science. “The goal and end of medicine is healing, and this is why medicine is intrinsically moral, not merely a scientific practice that you just apply to particulars.”
“Science can’t give itself the reason to do medicine,” Kornu explains. It is unable to tell us why we should care about another person. Medical practice based solely on science will remain impoverished, impersonal, and even profoundly nihilistic.
Listen to this engaging interview with Kimbell Kornu over at Mars Hill Audio. To go deeper, read his essay "The Nihilism of Modern Medicine" over at Theopolis.
As of Monday, Andy is now the proud father of two!
With a new baby girl in the house, Lindsey has put a moratorium on Andy's projects for six weeks. And that's no problem! The current upsurge of paternal joy leaves Andy with little desire to do anything but coo, cook, and cuddle. In compliance with Lindsey's wishes and his own best interest, Andy has permitted Phillip to write this section. We eagerly await his return.
See you soon, Andy.
After their daughter drifts off to sleep, Phillip and Christa have been reading George MacDonald's The Lost Princess (also known as The Wise Woman) in a lovely illustrated edition from 1994.
If The Day Boy and the Night Girl is MacDonald's marriage fairy tale, this one has much to say about parenting. "Is our little girl Rosamond?" they've asked a few times, followed by chills.
Thanks to a crazy ebook sale from Eerdmans, Phillip is also making his way through Ephraim Radner's Time and the Word: Figural Reading of the Christian Scriptures. Woah.
Featured Book
Three Pieces of Glass: Why We Feel Lonely in a World Mediated by Screens
Eric O. JacobsenConspiracy theories proliferate when belonging is in short supply. Being “in on the secret” can bind you to others who share the same knowledge and provide a sense of communal stability when the world is spinning out of control.
But, as Joe Carter points out, many conspiracy theories are built upon lies, making them quite literally demonic. They offer what Eric Jacobsen calls “worldly belonging” — exclusive, contractual, enemy focused, and deeply malformative. The kingdom of God, however, holds out a different sort of belonging that is unconditional, covenantal, diverse, and transformative.
This paradigm comes from Jacobsen’s new book Three Pieces of Glass: Why We Feel Lonely in a World Mediated by Screens. The titular pieces of glass — the car windshield, TV, and smartphone — exacerbate our sense of loneliness and alienation from one-another by minimizing face-to-face interactions, making worldly belonging attractive.
But worldly belonging is but a high-calorie alternative to feasting in the kingdom of God. If shalom – "human flourishing in all its dimensions" – is God’s deep desire for the world, then belonging is the subjective experience of shalom. Jacobsen’s book is a careful balance of cultural analysis, accessible theology, and practical counsel for how the church can foster true belonging.
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